“Thanks, Ash, but really, I’m fine. I just need to focus on my work, like I should have been doing the whole time, and it will be like it never happened.”
“But it did happen. You fell in lo—”
“No.” Lola wouldn’t let Ashley finish the word. Tamping down on her foolish, misplaced emotions, she forced herself to say, “He didn’t mean anything to me.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when the man she’d just claimed didn’t mean anything to her, the man she refused to talk about, the man she would never admit she’d cried over, appeared in the doorway to her studio.
And that was when she knew for sure that no matter how hard she’d tried to scrub him from her heart over the past few days, she hadn’t succeeded even the slightest bit. Not when she had to reach for the nearest piece of furniture to hold herself up on suddenly shaky legs.
“Lola, I know you don’t want to see me again, but—” He suddenly realized Ashley was in the room. “Ashley, hello.”
“Hello, Duncan.”
As he turned back to Lola, his eyes were more intense than she could ever remember seeing them. Even more intense than when they’d almost made love the night they’d stayed up holding each other. She shivered remembering how much she’d wanted him. Shivered again at how much she still wanted him.
“Could we speak in private?” he asked.
“Whatever you have to say to me—even though there isn’t anything left to say at this point—you can say in front of my sister.” Ashley’s presence meant Lola couldn’t possibly make the mistake of throwing herself into his arms and kissing him the way she had in Boston.
She shouldn’t even be thinking about his kisses when he would surely be able to read her thoughts in her eyes and flushed skin.
“I’ve come to warn you about my brother.” His voice brimmed with concern and protectiveness—and something that sounded far too much like love for her peace of mind. “Alastair has made it clear that he wants to be involved in my life again. I’ve told him to stay the hell away, but he’s not inclined to listen.” Duncan took a step forward, moving close enough for Lola to smell his woodsy aftershave. “After one of his employees saw us together at the fashion show on Monday night, Alastair now knows who you are and what you mean to me. I believe he may try to hurt you to get to me.”
Despite the way Duncan had deceived her, hearing how vicious his brother could be made her ache for him. That couldn’t change her response, though. “I don’t need anyone to protect me. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. I’ve never doubted how strong you are for a second. But Alastair doesn’t play by the rules. The thought of anything happening to you—” His expression twisted with pain. “It would kill me, Lola.”
She was doing everything she could to keep her heart closed, impenetrable. To remind herself that it didn’t matter what he felt for her, because she felt nothing for him. But it was getting more difficult by the second when there were a million things she wanted to say to him, a million questions she wanted to ask, and a million kisses she wanted to give him.
Still, she forced herself to be curt and to the point. “I’ll be fine.”
He stared at her for a long moment, one so heavy with emotion she could have sliced through it with one of her cutting shears. “You mean everything to me, Lola.” His deep voice resonated with emotion. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man you needed me to be.”
It wasn’t until the door closed behind him that she finally let her breath go on a ragged exhalation. Shell-shocked, she lowered herself into the chair she’d been holding on to for support.
“You should go after him,” Ashley suggested in a gentle voice. “It’s obvious you two need to talk.”
Lola shook her head. “We already said everything we needed to say to each other in Boston on Monday.”
“For all your many gifts,” Ashley said, “you’ve never been a compelling liar. It doesn’t matter how many times you swear you’re fine, or tell me that Duncan doesn’t mean anything to you. It still won’t make either of those things true. Which is why you need to go talk with him now, if for no other reason than to try to get some resolution for yourself. Until you hear him out, we both know you’re going to lie awake wondering what he could possibly have to say to justify what happened to Moira and her company.”
Lola’s heart wanted nothing more than to dash out the door after him, but her head held her back. “I promised Moira I was done with him. If she finds out I’m meeting with him again…” She shook her head. “I’ve already hurt her so badly. I can’t hurt her again.”
“You never meant to hurt Moira,” Ashley countered. “People fall in love every day. Sometimes, the man who seems right isn’t. But then sometimes, the man who seems wrong turns out to be the right one after all.” She paused before adding, “It seems to me that you owe it to yourself to hear Duncan out and find out once and for all if he really is the wrong man for you. Or if maybe, just maybe, he could be the right one.”
Lola didn’t have another rebuttal in her. She’d tried so hard to be strong. Tried even harder to shut down her heart.
But it was so damned hard to fight against her feelings for Duncan.
Ashley took both of Lola’s hands in hers. “You know how strong my bad-guy radar is. But even though I was suspicious of Duncan at first, the truth is that once I met him, my radar didn’t go off. Even after Moira told us who he is, the shocking thing is that I still didn’t get a bad feeling about him. Which is why I have to wonder what role Duncan actually played in destroying Moira’s business? Because I have a very difficult time imagining him willfully harming anyone. Especially you.”
“Dad said the same thing,” Lola murmured, almost to herself.
“Then go find Duncan and ask what happened between him and Moira,” Ashley encouraged her. “And most of all, trust your heart. It’s not going to let you down, Lola. I’m positive it won’t.” Ashley gave her a warm and loving smile. A smile that said she would always be there for her sister, no matter what. “You’re magnificent, especially on the inside. If men have only ever seen your outer beauty, it’s their fault, not yours. One day, you’re going to meet a man who will see how beautiful you are in every way. In fact,” she added in a soft voice, “there’s a part of me that can’t help but wonder if you already have.”
Overcome with emotion, Lola held tight to her sister’s hands as she said, “You’re right. I need to know exactly what happened. I need to stop trying to act like I don’t care.”
“Text me or call me if you need anything.”
But Lola was afraid that the only person capable of giving her what she needed was Duncan.
Only, could she ever trust him enough to let him?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lola found Duncan standing behind the seawall, watching a cruise ship sail out to sea. Mothers chatted nearby while their children giggled and blew bubbles into the sky. Dogs snuffled along the ground. And tourists holding ice cream cones marveled aloud at the beauty of the Bar Harbor waterfront.